Electric-car maker Fisker recalling Karmas due to battery issue

Electric car maker Fisker Automotive has issued a recall for 239 of its Karma vehicles, fewer than 50 of which have been sold to customers. The $96,000 luxury electric sedans have an issue with a hose clip in their battery units that could result in a coolant leak and possibly a fire.

All Karma owners have already been contacted by Fisker, and the company aims to have all the batteries replaced in customer cars before … Continue Reading

U.S.-backed electric car maker Fisker misses early goals, delays production

Government-backed electric car company Fisker Automotive is delaying plans for production after missing its early manufacturing goals. According to a report by the Washington Post, the delays are being blamed on regulatory issues, and the company is brushing off any comparisons to Solyndra, another clean-energy company that received half a million in government loans, which filed for bankruptcy in September.

Fisker has already received $529 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Energy to … Continue Reading

29 electric car makers ready to rule the streets

Some crazy concept cars have emerged since the electric car frenzy hit the market in 2008. Where are they now?

We caught up with 29 electric car manufacturers and developers to find out what they’re doing today. Some are still going strong, some have begun actively producing their cars, and some … well, not every startup can survive.

Most major car companies have begun working on a hybrid electric car or a pure battery-powered electric … Continue Reading

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Electric car range anxiety evaporates after 3 months

“Range anxiety” for pure battery-powered electric car owners wears off quickly as a driver begins to understand the capabilities and charging patterns of their car, according to a new study by the Technology Strategy Board.

Around 35 percent of electric car owners were concerned about reaching a destination before running out of juice three months after buying a car, compared to 100 percent of car owners when they first bought the electric car, according to … Continue Reading

Extended-range hybrids pick up steam

A clear trend is emerging among electric car manufacturers: Plug-in hybrids are a better near-term bet than purely battery-powered cars.

Ford today unveiled the latest in its series of electric cars, a plug-in hybrid electric car called the Evos. The car has a battery-powered engine that can travel between 30 and 40 miles before switching over to an engine powered by gasoline. (Drivers can also choose whether they want to power the car solely off … Continue Reading

Electric car maker Fisker Automotive raising $200M at $2.2B valuation

Electric car manufacturer Fisker Automotive is in the process of raising a $200 million funding round that would value the company at $2.2 billion, according to a report by Fortune.

It would be the company’s third funding round in six months. Fisker Automotive raised $190 million just five months ago to help fund the production of its electric cars. The company finished off a recent $100 million round in May, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield … Continue Reading

Meet the Cadillac ELR, General Motors’ luxury extended-range electric car

General Motors today unveiled its first luxury extended-range electric vehicle, the Cadillac ELR Coupe. It’s the company’s second extended-range electric car and the third extended-range car unveiled in the past 30 days.

The new high-end vehicle features an electric motor that will travel for about 35 miles when the car’s battery is fully charged. When the battery runs out, the car uses gasoline to power a generator that recharges the battery, extending the distance the … Continue Reading

Has cleantech investing lost its glamour? Khosla Ventures loses two partners

Two partners are leaving storied cleantech investment firm Khosla Ventures, as excitement has started to peter out in the once-buzzing clean technology space.

Khosla Ventures partners Jim Kim and Alex Kinnier have followed former partner Gideon Yu in leaving the cleantech investing firm. The turnover has clouded the future of clean technology investment firms, which are exposed to higher risk and lower returns now that the initial excitement has died down.

“Not unlike most sectors, … Continue Reading

Market tantrum scares cleantech investors

Cleantech companies might not be feeling the sting of today’s market frenzy any worse than the rest of the pack. But for those companies, which typically require massive capital investments, a sustained downturn could crunch down on the sector’s badly-needed cash flow.

A number of prominent investors and sector analysts painted a gloomy picture when contacted by VentureBeat, citing cleantech’s more intense up-front costs.

The NASDAQ composite index fell nearly 7 percent for the day. … Continue Reading

Week in review: Steve Perlman’s DIDO tech could fix wireless woes

Here’s our roundup of the week’s top tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:

Steve Perlman’s white paper explains “impossible” wireless tech — People have called Steve Perlman’s new wireless technology impossible.

New signs suggest Diablo 3 release date coming soon — World of Warcraft and Diablo developer Blizzard Entertainment added a box-art image for a Diablo 3 beta last weekend — a sign that the company … Continue Reading

BMW lays down its cards in electric car market

Car manufacturer BMW today unveiled its next wave of electric cars — the i8 sporty hybrid-electric coupe and a smaller i3 electric mini, both of which use a range-extending hybrid electric model.

The i3 is designed as a pure electric car, while the i8 is a high-end electric hybrid sports car similar to the Fisker Karma. BMW is also selling a range-extended version of the i3 that uses gasoline to recharge the battery and extend … Continue Reading

Check out Ray Lane of Kleiner Perkins’ new ride, the Fisker Karma

Hybrid electric car manufacturer Fisker Automotive delivered its first production model electric car for consumers, the Fisker Karma, to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Ray Lane (pictured right) on Tuesday.

Fisker Automotive has produced 54 cars and is revving up it production of the high-end luxury electric car. Lane’s Karma marks the first car that was manufactured for consumers and delivered. That means the company might soon be another player in the electric car … Continue Reading

Kleiner Perkins leads slower Q2 cleantech investing

Investments in clean technology projects fell 10 percent in the second quarter this year to $1.83 billion when compared to $2.03 billion in the second quarter of 2010, according to research firm Cleantech Group.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led venture capital firms in the number of fundraising rounds. The venture capital firm participated in a total of 12 rounds, including those of electric bus manufacturer Proterra and iControl Networks. Draper Fisher Jurveston had the … Continue Reading